How can we use the Change Lab approach
to rethink leadership education?
CHANGE LAB
an approach on how to facilitate
profound change and innovation
in teams and organisations
We want to RETHINK LEADERSHIP
EDUCATION in Denmark!
DO YOU WANT TO JOIN?
The current educational system is facing a
range of challenges in the face of changes in
business and society. Critics voice a concern
that the way we design and run our educational
institutions and programs today shape young
people into a way of thinking and doing that
is reminiscent of industrial society. In order for
the Danish society to overcome the challenge
of moving beyond an industrial society we need
a larger number of leaders who have the com-
petencies and mindsets to deal with complexity
and make decisions that deal with old problems
in new and creative ways.
The Change Lab approach has been applied to
challenges as diverse as the sustainability of
global food systems and malnutrition in India,
to rethinking the financial system in the United
Kingdom in collaboration with WWF.
The change lab is an approach to enable pro-
found collaborative innovation in the face of
complex challenges. It builds upon the U pro-
cess (Scharmer, 2004) and multi-stakeholder
engagement, and it aims at change on a large
scale systemic level.
Participants will be trained in the use of Change
Lab as an approach and while doing so be
working on a concrete case that is relevant be-
yond this training. Each Change Lab addresses
a visible need in society and works closely with
key stakeholders.
The theme for this Change Lab will be ‘Rethink-
ing Leadership Education’.

You will be part of a team of key stakehold-
ers and participants who want to learn about
the Change Lab approach while also engag-
ing in an exploration and effort to rethink the
the educational system.
You are invited to enter a space of strong
intention and purpose, where we will look at
how the educational system might be trans-
formed to what is needed of leaders in the
21st century.
We will build the capacities among the
participants to work further with the Change
Lab approach in their respective contexts,
and we will create concrete insights into
what it takes to rethink and reshape leader-
ship education as we know it.
The Change Lab
The ambition of Change Lab is to be a space
that brings together a group of diverse stake-
holders and to forge them into a team. The
purpose of this team is to “attend to” a social
challenge until the time when new ways for-
ward emerge. When acted upon these new
insights increase the probabilities of a shift
to occur.
During a Change Lab the participants will
immerse themselves in an exploration of
what they know about the challenge in ques-
tion and use this as a foundation for creating
a space where new ideas for solutions can
emerge. This is followed by a process of pro-
totyping these ideas for actionable solutions.
In order to be able to rethink the educational
system and work with it, the Change Lab will
invite us to first sense the fields within the
educational system in an effort to understand
the system. An important aspect of this is to
increase our awareness of our own precon-
ceptions of the system and then suspending
and letting go of these. Change Lab invites
us to confront our situation as a whole,
armed with the full array of human creativity,
camaraderie and courage. And allowing us
to connect to what we really feel and to act
from what the future calls us to do.
What can you expect?
• Collaboration and input from a group of
skilled, creative and engaged players to work
on the challenge of what kinds of leadership
and leadership education is needed in our
society.
• You will experience a new creative way of
working with innovation.
• You will get a very skilled facilitator, Zaid
Hassan, and access to the experience of Reos
Partners, who have worked with this process
for years.
• You will get three dedicated organisers who
are committed to work further with rethink-
ing leadership education, and to get the most
interesting participants to join.
Who should attend this course/Lab
• People involved with leadership education.
• Managers in business, government, and civil
society who want a fresh way to address the
challenges that are facing them.
• Facilitators and change agents who want to
learn to facilitate more complex challenges
with diverse groups.
• Anyone involved in innovation, policy, or engage-
ment of stakeholders in complex environments.
• Students
• Faculty of educational institutions who are
interested in rethinking education and con-
tribute with their experiences.
• Politicians who care about how we educate
our leaders.
Course Host: Reos Partners
Zaid Hassan Reos Partners is an international organisation
dedicated to supporting and building capacity
Zaid is a facilitator and writer who is pas- for innovative collective action in complex social
sionate about bridging divides and cultural systems.
re-generation. His work is focused on sup-
porting individuals, communities and insti- They organise, design and facilitate results-orient-
tutions who recognize that new approaches ed multi-stakeholder change processes with busi-
are needed in order to shift contemporary ness, government and civil society organisations.
intractable situations. The name Reos comes from the Greek “rheos,”
Zaid helped found Reos Partners in 2007 which means flow or stream.
where he serves as Managing Partner of For more information about ReosPartners and The
the London office. Prior to this, Zaid spent Change Lab approach see
four years at Generon Consulting, where he www.reospartners.com
worked on long-term projects that brought
together business, civil society, government
and communities to innovate within com-
plex and difficult social situations. His work
involved process design, facilitation, project
management and documentation and his
projects included sustainable food supply
chains in North America and Europe, child
malnutrition in India and aboriginal relations
in Canada. He has spent extensive time in
India working on the Bhavishya Alliance, a
Change Lab aimed at reducing child malnu-
trition in India.
A native Londoner, Zaid grew up in India,
the Middle East and England. He currently
lives in Oxford and is an Associate Fellow of
The Institute of Science, Innovation and So-
ciety, Said Business School at the University
of Oxford.
Organizers:
Rowan Simonsen
Rowan Simonsen is a Kaospilot, founder of
Upstream Consulting and a father. Rowan has
worked with process design and facilitation for
the last four years, engaging both public and
private organisations. Rowan works with new
media, nature retreats, and strategic harvesting
of meetings in order to create spaces for trans-
formational learning.
Mads Domino
Mads is driven by the effort to create more
holistic ways of thinking in the educational
system. He holds a MSc in Strategy, Organi-
sation and Leadership from Aarhus School
of Business where he specialised in how
C. Otto Scharmer’s Theory U can be used
and translated into practice in a facilita-
tion process. Mads has worked with project
management for the past two years at a
private consultancy firm that uses Theory U
as one of their main approaches. He is very
inspired by the thoughts underlying this and
related theories, which he aims to adopt in
his way of understanding and learning.
Registration
Price:
Tina Broberg DKK 6.000 incl. VAT
Tina is a PhD. researcher on a project about The 2nd and 3rd participant from the same
creative leadership and new approaches organisation you get 10% discount.
to leadership education at the Department The price includes lunch, refreshments and
of Management at Aarhus School of Busi- all materials.
ness and Social Sciences. Along with this
research, Tina has a profound interest in Venue:
exploring and sharing how participative and The Change Lab will take place in the heart
transformative practices can create value of Aarhus in a beautiful old renovated
for people and their organisations. Tina’s church.
educational background is a MA in Drama- Address: Nørre Allé 23, 8000 Århus C
turgy and Media Studies from the University
Date:
of Aarhus. Since 2005 she has worked as as
September 13th - 15th
a freelance consultant and as a part time
Starts 9.30 AM on Monday 13th
consultant (2006-2008) at the KaosPilot
Ends 3.00 PM on Wednesday 15th
School of Societal Change, Business Creativ-
ity and Personal Mastery.
Payment
For any questions or inquiries please send
an email to:
Mads Domino: madsdomino@gmail.com
Full payment confirms your place.
Bank details:
Rowan Francis Simonsen
Merkur Andelskasse
Reg. no. 8401 Account no.1090978